Election fever as MPs stay on

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Federal MPs are preparing for a highly unusual weekend sitting today to deal with a backlog of outstanding legislation, prompting speculation that the Government is clearing the decks for a possible early election.

The decision to reconvene came as federal and state leaders yesterday put aside 106 years of bickering to support a national water plan that will allow the trading of water across state and river boundaries.

Under yesterday's deal, reached at the Council of Australian Governments, $500 million - split between four states - will go into returning water to six environmental hot spots on the Murray River.

The rush to clear outstanding legislation was seen as a sign that Prime Minister John Howard wants everything ready if he decides to call an election before the Parliament is due to resume in early August. It will be the first time the House of Representatives has sat on a Saturday since December 6, 1997. The last time the Senate sat on a Saturday was in 1998.

But Mr Howard said the flurry of legislative activity was "not necessarily" the prelude to an election.

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"Please believe me, I have not decided when the election is going to be held - please believe that," he told Sky TV.

An August 7 election would have to be called around next weekend.

Liberal sources yesterday believed that was unlikely. Some sources expected Mr Howard to test the electoral waters for at least a couple of weeks before deciding whether to go early.

The manager of Opposition business in the House, Julia Gillard, warned that Labor would stop co-operating with the Government's parliamentary program because it was no longer dealing with time-critical bills.

"The Opposition has co-operated with the Government (in the House) and in the Senate to enable it to clear through time-critical legislation," she said. "The bills that are now being dealt with in the Senate are not of that order. It is the Opposition's view that if the Government could not organise its legislative program to deal with them earlier, then there is not an obligation on us to co-operate with the continued sitting of the House."

The manager of Government business in the House, Tony Abbott, sympathised with MPs wanting to get home but vowed the Government would not tolerate Labor's threats to impede the Parliament. "I know that all of us are starting to get a little bit impatient... (But) there is one reason that we are here; that is because the Senate has not dealt with the legislation before it."

He said the Parliament would not rise until the Senate had dealt with the legislation before it. "What the Government will not accept is a process of filibustering going on in the Senate."

Meanwhile, Mr Howard described yesterday's COAG agreement as a tremendous step towards securing Australia's water supplies. "It is a huge victory for common sense, it's long overdue," he said.

Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson, who has driven the issue for several years, said the plan would aid regional development and help the environment.

The eastern states were also upbeat about the long-term ramifications of the decision, saying it would benefit the environment and rural areas.